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Uber and Lyft have said they may shut down their California operations on Friday, arguing that they won’t be able to comply with a law mandating that drivers be classified as employees.
But experts told Business Insider not to expect it to harm either company’s business very much — it’s drivers who have the most to lose from a shut-down.
“Essentially, I feel like someone who is almost getting justice, but in the meantime, getting blackmailed for it,” Edan Alva, a Lyft driver based in the San Francisco Bay Area, told Business Insider. “What they’re essentially doing is telling drivers, ‘You don’t deserve us following the law for you. If you force us to do that, we will make sure that you suffer even more.'”
Harry Campbell, founder of the blog The Rideshare Guy, told Business Insider that the situation is similar to what happened in Austin, Texas, in 2016: Uber and Lyft left town over a legal issue they felt would have a “material, negative impact” on their business.
“Everyone was shocked that Uber and Lyft pulled out and it basically happened overnight. And I think the same thing is going to happen here,” Campbell said.
Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Come Friday, Californians may be facing a new transportation reality — one that doesn’t include Uber or Lyft.
The ride-hailing companies have threatened to shut down their operations in the state of California rather than comply with a state law that requires them to classify their drivers as employees. Both companies have until Thursday to adhere to the regulation. See the rest of the story at Business Insider
Here are all the ways Uber and Lyft are fighting a California law that classifies drivers as employees, not contractorsUber sends ominous message to riders in California ahead of its possible shutdownA photo-editing AI thought this blurry photo was actor Ryan Gosling’s face
SEE ALSO: ‘This is why people are so angry’: Tech giants like Google, Facebook, and Uber built their empires on the backs of contractors. A pandemic is showing just how horrifically that model failed American workers.
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NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 30 – Flytxt, the provider of global real-time closed loop mobile marketing solutions, has announced that it has won twin deals in Africa with Warid Uganda and Warid Congo B, to provide its campaign management solution to the telecommunication firms.
The technology leader in closed loop mobile marketing and real-time campaign management said that its platform has gone live on both the operator networks soon after the closure of the deal.
With its integrated reward, churn, intent and offer management functionality, Flytxt marketing suite enables a highly efficient closed loop marketing process and Chief Commercial Officer at Warid Uganda Shailendra Naidu said that today’s prepaid markets are dynamically changing and require not just real-time insights about mobile subscribers, but also the ability to communicate with them in an interactive and personalized fashion.
Flytxt’s technology brings out subscriber insights based on past service consumption patterns and enables cellular service providers to highly customize service offerings, while communicating to them in a timely manner.
In addition to its technology, Flytxt brings its decade long mobile marketing and campaign management expertise with its Marketing Excellence Center.
Flytxt’s marketing consultants bring the expertise of working with some of the largest mobile operators in emerging markets and Flytxt’s consultants have a proven expertise in streamlining marketing processes across these operators, which has led to substantial incremental revenue.
Chief Marketing Officer at Warid Congo B Imossio Begoume said they have partnered with Flytxt as part of Warid’s innovations aimed at providing personalized offers and services to its subscribers as part of its ground-breaking approach to mobile marketing technology and services space.
“Warid is a pioneering mobile operator in the market with innovations directed at creating newer and richer experiences for the people of Congo in the Telecom domain,” he explained.
Group CEO of Flytxt Vinod Vasudevan said they are excited to partner with Warid as they are one of the most innovative mobile operators in Africa committed to creating value for its subscribers.
“Flytxt has proven itself in Telco ecosystem as a leading player in enabling the most matured technology and marketing practices to generate incremental revenue for operators across emerging markets,” he said.
“We look forward to working with the most forward thinking operators in Africa, Warid Congo B and Warid Uganda, to enable personalized offer communications and improved experience for its mobile subscriber base,” he added.
Flytxt offers its services while completely and strictly enforcing the communication policies that substantially enhance the subscriber’s experience on the operator’s network.
The company offers its solutions to several leading operators across South Asia and Africa with a combined subscriber base of over 250 million. The company has run over 50,000 highly successful campaigns across these continents over the past 12 months.

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HARRISBURG, Pa. — Longtime Pennsylvania Farm Show vendors say they are making do, but they're already looking forward to next year's event.
Rahn Troutman and his family have had a french fry stand at the Lewisburg Farmers Market for nearly 50 years. But Troutman says it feels weird being here this week.
"This was the one week that we normally weren't here. We would have a sign up that says come see us at the Farm Show," Rahn Troutman said.
Troutman and his family from Dornsife have managed the booth at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg for the Pennsylvania Potato Growers for 48 years. They sell baked potatoes, french fries, and potato donuts. But this year's Farm Show has been moved online.
"I can't make virtual donuts or fries, but it's really interesting to watch," Troutman said.
It's the first time Troutman has not participated in the Farm Show in nearly 50 years.
"There was no way we were going to be able to operate. We have 70 people in our booth alone," Troutman said.
Hundreds of thousands of people usually attend the Pennsylvania Farm Show each year. Troutman says his booth goes through about 30 tons of potatoes during the week.
"It's a big part of my business for the year, and during the week at the Farm Show, like I said earlier, we employ close to 70 people," Troutman said.
His customers feel the same way.
"I'm very disappointed, but due to all this mess, I understand why things do get canceled," Ken Passell said.
Even though he cannot be at the Farm Show this year, Troutman is hopeful for next year.
"At some point when this all clears up that life can go back to normal, and we can do our fairs and events throughout the year," Troutman said.
The Pennsylvania Farm Show runs virtually through Saturday, January 16.


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Electric cars and concept cars appear at Viet Nam Motor Show 2022
VGP - Electric vehicles and concept cars were a notable trend at the Viet Nam Motor Show 2022, showing that Viet Nam was increasingly catching up with new world trends.
Viet Nam Motor Show 2022 (VMS 2022) officially opened on October 26 after two years of absence. Fourteen car manufacturers participating in VMS 2022 brought 120 new models with many electric and concept cars.
Mr Laurent Genet, a representative of genuine auto importers, assessed that Viet Nam has great potential in developing the automobile market.
This is both an opportunity and a challenge for auto manufacturers and importers in building customer loyalty and meeting the increasingly demanding needs of the market.
Viet Nam's automobile market became increasingly exciting and fast-paced with the general trend of the world, the most obvious being the green car trend. Many car manufacturers began to bring in electric and hybrid models to serve domestic demand.
As of August 2022, the country had about 3,000 electric cars manufactured, assembled and imported, an increase of more than 20 times compared to the number of electric vehicles in 2019. Currently, there are about 1.8 million electric motorbikes and scooters in operation.
Notably, Viet Nam has certain advantages when converting cars using internal combustion engines to electric vehicles, especially when the Government has policies to support the production and assembly of electric cars.
However, according to the Government's roadmap, many solutions related to policies, infrastructure and markets are needed to switch from cars using internal combustion engines to electric vehicles.
The seminar "Introduction of green technology solutions to reduce emissions and protect the environment" will be held at the Viet Nam Motor Show 2022, showing the trend of car manufacturers in the context of the substantial electrification of the automotive industry./.


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The latest report from the Coronavirus Consumer Pulse monitor, developed under our partnership with Retail Week, shows online traffic is returning to pre-coronavirus levels across the fashion, and health and beauty sectors.
This report was published on 20 July 2020
The Smart Cube and Retail Week have combined their machine learning and sector expertise to analyse online search trends, website traffic, app downloads and use, social media posts, physical mobility data and government actions to paint a picture of the current retail environment – and analyse what it might mean for the future of the sector.
In the latest report on online traffic returning to pre-crisis levels - read more about the average daily visits to fashion websites during the first week of July, online patterns of home and DIY websites, and more.
Download your copy now by completing the box to the right or by getting in touch with us at email@example.com


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Just a year ago, the city of Evans launched its Shop Local campaign. Businesses started displaying stickers and posters in their windows, urging residents to “Keep it Local, Shop Evans.” But even though the program was considered a success, the city is now looking for someone else to take over.
Evans didn’t start the program with the intent of making it a regular service, such as street paving, said Sheryl Trent, economic development director for the city. They always hoped another agency would adopt it soon after its creation.
Trent explained Shop Local campaigns aren’t something city governments usually do. Normally, downtown improvement districts, chambers of commerce or local business people take up the initiative.
But Trent and the economic development advisory committee saw a need that wasn’t being met in Evans. They envisioned a website, advertisements and social media that celebrated local businesses, a whole network of support. Their goal was to encourage residents to buy local products instead of traveling outside the city to big retailers. Buying local puts money back into the local economy and promotes local job growth.
It took around six years to get the funds and the specifics of the program in place. For 2014, they operated on a $5,000 budget, and unlike other Shop Local programs, they didn’t require businesses to pay an entry fee. The program was completely free to the 37 businesses that applied.
But now, Trent said the city has limited staff and resources to continue the campaign. They haven’t started working on the project for 2015. Trent said they’re examining options and hope a local chamber or business agency would want to continue the program.
A natural fit might be the Evans Chamber of Commerce, though Michele Jones, executive director, said the chamber already publicizes local businesses and performs some of the services the Shop Local campaign provides. The chamber requires businesses to pay a fee based on the number of people employed with a minimum amount of $150. In return, they put the business on their website, refer potential customers and offer classes and networking events for members.
Trent explained that the programs, though similar in their goal, are different in their practices. Unlike the chamber, the Shop Local campaign created online maps with the locations of local business, sponsored a Shop Local Saturday and took out an ad in the Tribune. The Shop Local campaign also supports businesses specifically located in Evans, whereas the chamber of commerce supports the greater Evans area.
The city hasn’t monitored the Shop Local initiative’s effect on job growth or sales tax revenue, but the majority of the 37 businesses said in a survey they found the campaign valuable. Trent said she wants a potential sponsor to see how positive continuing this program could be for Evans businesses and the Evans community.


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A BIG high street chain with more than 450 stores is to abruptly close one of its branches.
Pets at Home is pulling down the shutters on one of its stores in just a few days time.
In a post on Facebook, staff at the retailer's branch in Forster Square, Bradford, revealed that it will close on Thursday, August 31.
The emotional post read: "It’s with a heavy heart that we have to bid farewell to an amazing town and a community that welcomed us with open arms from day one.
'We have made some truly special friends, both four and two legged and we’re so sad to be having to say goodbye.
"It has truly been an honour to help and support your pets, whether finding that perfect food for tricky tums or getting that coat to fit just right.
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"I can assure you that this decision was not an easy one and not taken lightly, but due to a number of factors we have to say goodbye to Bradford Forster Square."
The site will remain open until then and is operating as normal.
Pets At Home has more than 450 stores nationwide and sells a variety of pet supplies and small animals, including hamsters and rabbits.
The chain recently revealed plans to open 40 new stores over the next five years.
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A list of locations is yet to be finalised, but Pets at Home told The Sun that the majority will be within the M25 and in urban areas.
It opened two new branches and renovated nine of its stores in the first half of this year, including shops in Spalding and Leeds.
Other store closures
Soaring inflation has left shoppers strapped for cash, and retailers are struggling to get customers to part with their hard-earned money.
High energy costs and a shift to online shopping are also taking a toll and many brands just haven't been able to keep going.
Supermarket chain Iceland has shut 13 supermarkets so far this year, with more closures to come.
Iceland is to close its shops in Crewe and Birkenhead in the next few weeks.
While Tesco is to permanently close one of its stores within weeks after axing its discount chain.
Wilko collapsed into administration earlier this month after failing to find new backing for the business.
It puts the chain's 400 stores at risk of closing and around 12,500 jobs on the line.
But a second last-minute bid to rescue the ailing business has since been received by private equity firm M2 Capital.
Meanwhile, Boots is set to close 300 shops across the country over the next year.
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While Boots hasn't confirmed the exact locations of all, those which are set to shut are said to be shops which are close to another site.
If you want to know how your local high street is affected, you can check out our handy guide to all the shops closing down in August.
Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing [email protected].
You can also join our new Sun Money Facebook group to share stories and tips and engage with the consumer team and other group members.
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Fans of American music travel to Europe in search of cheaper concert tickets.
An analysis by the Daily Mail found that ticketmaster prices for concert tickets are wide between the U.S. and Europe. Because of this, some fans are choosing to pay for flights and cheaper concert tickets in Europe instead of the more expensive tickets in the US, reports SchengenVisaInfo.com. Ticket prices for Beyoncé, Madonna, Pink, Bruce Springsteen and Ed Sheeran are significantly higher in the US than in Europe, according to the analysis.
In a European comparison, Beyonce’s Charlotte show costs three times as much as a show in the US than in Stockholm, Sweden. According to data, Beyoncé’s concert in Charlotte costs $618 (€562) and in Stockholm $225 (€204). Madonna’s appearance in the United States also demanded the highest price compared to Europe. According to the data, tickets for Madonna’s New York concert cost $2,666 (€2,426) and London concert tickets cost $1,838 (€1,673).
What’s more, a Bruce Springsteen concert ticket in Newark this year was more than five times the price at $537 (488 euros), while a ticket in Copenhagen was $96 (87 euros).
Concert ticket prices are cheaper in Europe, but US music lovers should keep in mind that in addition to buying tickets, they also need to book accommodation, which adds up to the total price.
Hotel prices are particularly high in Sweden and London due to concerts. In Cardiff, Wales, hotel prices rise to $1,270 (€1,156) on the night of Beyoncé’s concert. Statista analyzed the data and the price increase and said there were several reasons for this. The main reason is that artists can no longer make money from their albums.
This means that artists are looking to make money through other means. In addition, the rising costs of running the show and the generally high demand are also contributing factors. With Taylor Swift adding dozens of international shows, ticket prices for concerts in Europe are likely to be lower than in the US as well.
For this reason, many spectators will gather in Europe where the tour will be held next year.
To account for price differences, the EU parliament last year passed the Digital Services Act, which also includes ticket regulations. The law, which will come into force on January 1, aims to equalize ticket prices in all EU member states and put an end to the buying tactic of cheap tickets for a limited period of time.


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The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is celebrating the rejection of European Union-SADC Interim Economic Partnership Agreement (IEPA) negotiations by the governments of South Africa and Angola and is mobilising for a political intervention in the whole agreement negotiations.
A bilateral investment treaty between Zimbabwe and South Africa could not be signed last week after Harare requested more details on the accord before it could commit itself, Industry Minister Welshman Ncube said.
Threats to the global liberal order are usually identified with illiberal states. That’s why China, with its repressive domestic regime and its see-no-evil (unless related to the United States) foreign policy attracts so much attention these days.
The European Union is likely to move towards the official signing of an interim economic partnership agreement, known as an EPA, with countries of the Southern African Development Community that will exclude South Africa.
In South America, serious pressure is building against the Israel-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement (FTA), threatening to derail it entirely. South American social movements, who have years of experience fighting against free trade, have integrated Palestine solidarity into their general work.
EU Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton visited several nations in Southern Africa last week, where she held talks with key governmental leaders. Although the general purpose of the trip was to promote bilateral and regional trade relations, Ashton also hoped to make progress on a potential Economic Partnership Agreement, or EPA, between members of the South African Development Community (SADC) and the European Union.
There is need to address the prevailing trade imbalance between Kenya and South Africa in order to enhance trade relations between the two countries Trade Permanent Secretary Dr (Eng) Cyrus Njiru has said.
Brussels officials have rejected calls from three southern African governments for a reassessment of a new trade accord with the European Union.
South Africa, Namibia and Angola have sent the European Union a letter — on an official South African letterhead and signed by the three countries’ ambassadors — reiterating concern about the interim economic partnership agreement and urging the EU to allow more time before the pact is signed.
The European Commission has made a major concession in trade talks with the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu), offering a deal that should avert the break-up of the customs union. It proposed a tariff deal that would align the bloc’s controversial Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the bilateral trade agreement under which SA trades with the EU. If accepted, the offer would essentially allow Sacu to maintain its common external tariff and keep the customs union intact.
A trade analyst says SA’s objections to an economic partnership agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU) were “smoke and mirrors”, and that SA’s stance was damaging to the region.
Global euphoria over the election of Barack Obama as US President George Bush’s successor has been tempered somewhat by the realisation that the Democrats have not historically been overly keen on free trade.
Several hundred product lines, mostly in the agricultural, agro-processing and fishing sectors in South Africa, may face increased competition from the European Union.
With the aim of enhancing co-operation between India, Brazil and South Africa in the field of Small Industries, the Third Tri-nation Summit for Small Business Development began in Faridabad. Inaugurating the Summit the Union Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Shri Mahabir Prasad raised hope that the summit will help the small industries of IBSA countries to meet global challenges.
Last month, captains of industry from India, Brazil and SA (Ibsa) descended on the Indian capital for the third summit of the Ibsa Trilateral Business Council.
Institutional development is considered important in empowering the Southern African Customs Union’s (Sacu’s) secretariat to play a significant role in regional policy development and the associated policy-making structures.
The figures are undoubtedly impressive. A total combined gross domestic product (GDP) in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms of more than $5,28- trillion, or 8% of the total global PPP GDP of over $65,6-trillion. A total population of more than 1,39-billion people, or just under 21% of the global population of more than 6,7-billion. These numbers show the combined weight of India, Brazil and South Africa (Ibsa), the three member countries of the Ibsa Dialogue Forum.
Can India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA) together make more money than they can spend? This was the fervent of the South African High Commissioner Francis Moloi at the third IBSA Business Summit 2008 that recently took place in New Delhi. Considering the three countries lie in different continents, connectivity is a major issue. In fact, integrating the three economies may be the ideal way to combat the global downturn.
Developing countries have talked of the philosophy of South-south cooperation for development for a very long time. A number of initiatives was launched during the 1960s and 1970s. However, progress was modest because of lack of resources and institutional weaknesses in developing countries. With the emergence of countries like Brazil, India and South Africa in this millennium with considerable capabilities and collective development experiences that South-south cooperation has begun to be seen as a viable strategy.
Policy paralysis in the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) is compounding problems for the region’s struggling clothing and textiles industry.


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A group claiming that the term “fire cider” is generic and has long been used to describe a type of cider vinegar-based elixir has launched a campaign that seeks to cancel a trademark of the phrase, which is owned by Shire City Herbals.
The “Free Fire Cider” campaign is rooted in a civil lawsuit filed by Shire City against Nicole Telkes of Austin, Texas, Mary Blue of Providence, R.I. and Katheryn Langelier of Union, Maine, each of whom identify as “herbalists” whose work is focused on botanical-based wellness and health remedies.
Shire City, named for its hometown of Pittsfield, Mass., filed its lawsuit in April, 10 months after the launch of an online petition on Change.org seeking to revoke the Fire Cider trademark. The petition includes a copy of the letter that organizers sent to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, which claims that the term and recipe for fire cider was originally introduced in the 1970s by herbalist Rosemary Gladstar who has since used it in “her copyrighted and published books, blogs and [sic] you tube videos.”
“This name has become a household name for a blend of herbs historically used to prevent and support the body during times of colds and flu,” the letter reads. “Trademarking this term is like trademarking the word pizza!”
As of today, the petition has nearly 11,000 signatures, many from individuals who are participating in and calling on retailers to boycott Shire City products. The Free Fire Cider website asks visitors to “contact your local stores that carry Shire City Herbals Fire Cider,” noting that Shire City’s “label has a pirate on it, which is very fitting… they are pirating herbal traditions!!”
In a recent article in The Boston Globe, Shire City founders Dana St. Pierre said that he and co-founders Amy Huebner and Brian Huebner feel that they are being unfairly vilified by those behind the campaign.
“People think that we are some giant corporate monster, and that we are this huge dangerous threat to the entire herbalist tradition, and that we must be stopped at all cost right now or there are going to be this unraveling of everybody’s rights,” St. Pierre told The Globe.
Shire City’s lawsuit claims that Telkes, Blue and Langelier allegedly sold products with the company’s trademarked term, according to The Globe, and that the trio has also engaged in unfair business interference and trade practices. Shire City also states that the boycott has caused $100,000 in lost sales, an amount equal to what it is seeking in damages.
Free Fire Cider disputes that the boycott has negatively impacted Shire City. On the contrary, organizers say it had the opposite effect. A press release issued by the campaign states that “in February of 2015, Amy Huebner, owner of Shire City Herbals publicly stated that the boycott ‘effectively doubled their business.’”
While those behind the Free Fire Cider dispute ownership of the term, they do not have a specific definition for the formulation of fire cider; most vary depending on the producer. Of note, Shire City’s Fire Cider product and Gladstar’s recipe, among other versions of the tonic, are significantly different. Shire City’s is a blend of certified organic apple cider vinegar, organic oranges, lemons, honey, turmeric, garlic, ginger and habanero peppers. Gladstar’s recipe calls for a blend of apple cider vinegar, honey, garlic, ginger, horseradish and cayenne pepper.
Other versions of the tonic include a base cider vinegar, but vary in design. The one marketed by Langelier is formulated with a range of botanical ingredients, including burdock root, dandelion root, thyme and rosemary. After being contacted by Shire City in 2014, Langelier renamed her product from Fire Cider no. 9 to Fire Tonic No. 9, however, a description of the beverage on her website refers to it as “Fire Tonic aka. Fire Cider” and notes that “each person brings their own unique ingredients and interpretation to the blend.”


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BBC interview: Jennings warns repercussions of Rana Plaza won’t go away
UNI Global Union General Secretary Philip Jennings told BBC World Service that the impact of the Rana Plaza tragedy in which more than 1,100 workers, mainly young women, died in April 2013, will not be forgotten.
Jennings told the BBC’s Business Daily programme that if any brands or governments thought that the memory of the Rana Plaza victims would we swept under the carpet, they were very much mistaken.
“There may be this feeling or sentiment that this issue is just going to go away: those images of Rana Plaza and the sheer numbers involved, over a thousand dead and two thousand injured, the tears, the emotion and the drama that came to people’s homes’ around the world, has made this still a very current matter, it has been etched in peoples’ minds, they can’t forgot this. There is this hope that this is all just going to go away. It will not,” Jennings said.
Jennings had a stark message for the Bangladesh government: must do better.
“What bothers us above all in Bangladesh is that the Bangladesh government is dragging its heels on labour law reform, it is dragging its heels in putting a proper factory inspection regime in place,” he said.
Jennings added that the Bangladesh government must not be adversely influenced by the powerful Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.
He also drew attention to the shortfall in funding required for the Rana Plaza compensation fund. There has been a positive response to the call Jennings made at the OECD Forum on Responsible Business recently, but around 22 million US$ is still needed to reach the 40 million US$ goal.
Hear the whole BBC interview with Philip Jennings and the rest of the programme which includes a comment by the Bangladeshi Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed who insists factories are safer as well as a debate between writer and journalist Tansy Hoskins, author of “Stitched Up: The Anti-Capitalist Book of Fashion” and Ben Powell, director of the Free Market Institute.
Hoskins points out the Bangladesh Accord which now has more than 180 brands signed up would never have happened without the driving force of the global unions, UNI and IndustriALL. Hoskins also refutes Powell’s arguments that the kind of sweatshops housed in Rana Plaza are in some way the beginnings of economic and social development in a developing country.
Bangladesh Accord: where are we now?
It's over a year since Bangladesh suffered the worst industrial accident in modern history and UNI, IndustriALL and number of leading NGOs took action to try to prevent the next Rana Plaza tragedy. The Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety Accord, negotiated by UNI and IndustriALL, is improving the lives of Bangladeshi garment workers but much still needs to be done, especially in terms of leadership from the Bangladesh government and compensation from brands with any links to Rana Plaza.
The compensation fund stands at US$18m, far short of the US$40m needed to adequately compensate the 1,138 victims, the injured and their families. However there are positive signs that more pressure is being put on the brands linked to Rana Plaza to force them to pay up. Recently, seven OECD governments committed to confronting the responsible brands headquartered in their countries and demand that they pay full compensation. The TUC is also putting the pressure on UK brands such as Matalan.
A full scale factory inspection programme is underway. Each factory is inspected for structural integrity and fire and electrical safety. By October this year, the Accord team will have inspected 1,500 factories. This dedicated team of more than 100 technical experts and engineers are conducting more than 30 inspections per week.
So far, more than 850 factories have been inspected for fire and electrical issues and 930 for structural safety.
The accord is a legally binding agreement signed by UNI and IndustriALL, a number of Bangladeshi unions, with more than 180 brands from 20 countries in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. Almost half of all Bangladeshi factories for the export market and two million workers are covered by its scope.
The global labour movement and NGOs had tried to establish an independent safety inspection regime for Bangladesh – the world's second largest national garment industry – for years but without success. Rana Plaza proved to be the tragic tipping point for change. IndustriALL and UNI developed a five year, legally binding plan, and told the brands the clock was literally ticking with a deadline set for midnight 15 May. What started as a trickle of brands (48 hours before the deadline only a handful of brands had signed up) became a flood. To date 183 brands have signed the Accord.
Transparency is a key feature of the Accord – inspection reports are available on the Bangladesh accord website
Each inspection reveals the full scale of lax standards fire and safety standards dating back decades. A total of 14 buildings have been found to be critically unsafe requiring temporary evacuation for complete closure.
This means that we have ensured that roughly 30.000 workers are no longer in highly unsafe buildings which could cause another Rana Plaza like disaster. In seven of those cases it was subsequently determined that partial occupation under strict conditions could be allowed, for instance by removing large amounts of weight from higher floors. According to the Accord text, the brands are working with factory owners to ensure that workers' wages are being paid even when the factories are closed.
Every single factory has revealed critical issues that must be dealt with as a condition of doing business with signatory brands in future. Common problems, include an absence of fire doors, lockable gates at exits, buildings not designed to hold their load, inadequate fire stairs on exit routes, automatic fire alarms requiring upgrades, and the need for better support for, and enclosure of, electrical cables.
By May next year the Bangladesh accord will have completed its first round of inspections. The next challenge will be to ensure that all necessary renovations and repairs are made on a timely basis. Under the accord the brands are responsible for ensuring that renovations are financially feasible, through improved pricing, loans or other means.
Although the remit of the accord is limited to fire and structural and electrical safety, the Accord aims create a sustainable model of health and safety responsibility and accountability with workers on the shop floor fully engaged.
All of the signatories, brands and unions are committed to doing there upmost to ensuring there is no repeat of Rana Plaza. This is more than the just the biggest business story of the last 18 months, it is a line in the sand that there can no longer be business as usual along the global supply chain. Rana Plaza has changed the rules of the global supply chain forever.


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Last week during P.A.X. East, Dead Space 2 executive producer Steve Papoutsis was chased down by G4TV in order to talk about the upcoming sequel and what games can expect from the franchise. One of the things discussed was the upcoming demo for the game and how the design team wanted to make sure that the demo was more accessible to gamers. The team plans on doing this by looking back at the demo for the original game and improving upon it entirely.
“One of the things that we did ourselves a disservice on the original game…a lot of people played it and our demo was not received as the super awesomest thing ever. Last time, I just heard a lot of comments like ‘The demo was way too hard,’ or ‘It kind of came out after the fact.’
”That’s one thing, again, we want to make sure this time out we deliver a demo that lets people understand the flavor and experience that’s at the heart of the Dead Space universe. We’re really gonna focus on what’s really good, so that new people get a chance to experience and see what it’s really about,” he explained.
“We’re really putting an emphasis on making sure that we have something there so that new people can check it out. There’s a lot of people that seem interested and we just want to give them an opportunity to check it out and get into it.”
It’s no secret that a lot of us are anticipating this sequel on a high level and the recent leak of the Dead Space 2 trailer was definitely mind blowing (despite the poor quality). We can’t wait to get more info on this bad boy.


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Seven must be loving the press SAS Australia is getting at the moment, but not that it’s necessarily translated to viewers for the oddball reality show.
Last night’s second SAS outing posted 795,000 eyeballs according to OzTAM metro numbers, making it slightly down on Monday’s debut that had 834,000.
In better news for Seven, SAS has managed to knock over the typically robust The Block, Nine’s reno show posting a very close 793,000.
10’s Junior MasterChef (470,000) struggled against the stiff competition.
Nine’s Donald Trump doco The Trump Show managed 483,000.
All this meant we had a dead heat for audience share last night. Seven and Nine both posting 27.9 per cent (all channels). 10 did 19.2 per cent, the ABC had 16.5 per cent and SBS enjoyed a mere 8.5 per cent.
Seven’s 6pm news bulletin (968,000) beat Nine’s version (909,000) and ACA did 775,000.
The Project was 10’s best performer for the evening – it enjoyed 486,000; while 10 News First did a neat 300K.
The ABC’s night went this way: 7pm news (671,000), 7.30 (560,000), Outback Ringer (397,000) and Big Weather (And How To Survive It) pulled a disappointing 371,000.
Over at Seven, Home And Away had 671,000 and The Chase did 515,000. Nine’s Hot Seat wasn’t overly hot, it only managed a cool 451,000.
From Friday, December 4, Snapchatters and Bitmoji users will be able to pair with their own Bitmoji avatars with Levi’s casualwear apparel. The Levi’s x Bitmoji designs will also appear across a variety of experiences on Snapchat including Chat and games, on the Snap Map and in Lenses. All products will be available for purchase […]
John Chaplin (pictured), former Chief Product Officer of Hogarth Australia and Co-founder of award winning digital agency Fusion, has launched a new digital product design company, Diagram. Based in Sydney, Diagram are a collective of creators and makers who partner with individuals, agencies, startups, business and industry to design and build considered, elegant digital products. […]
After announcing the mega acquisition of workplace chat company Slack yesterday, tech giant Salesforce has made a raft of announcements as part of this year’s annual Dreamforce event, which has been held virtually. Headlining the announcements was news of Salesforce Hyperforce, which comes as a reimagination of the company’s platform architecture built to securely and […]


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Chris Adams says that there are problems with reviewing public services online because the technical
The role new media technology has to play in averting tragedies like Virginia Tech and in the afterm
Ever copied a CD to your iPod? Then you've been breaking the law
Civic-minded hackers want to bring parliament into the 21st century
The ways of tracking our behaviour online are becoming more sophisticated.
Blogs are like gym memberships - it's keeping them up that counts
Could DRM-free audio novels make way for unrestricted electronic books?
The age of the all-knowing database presents a challenge to democracy
Online file-sharing should be seen as an opportunity, rather than a threat


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It is not only the loss of jobs that hurts. Real wages for manufacturing job workers are falling. The wages of those workers used to be higher than the pay in other private-sector jobs. Now, wages are lower. Real wages fell by 4.4 percent. That is much more of a loss than occurred in other private-sector jobs.
An expert said, “There still are many manufacturing jobs that are high-paying. However, they tend to be at the more senior level. And they usually require a lot more education than entry-level jobs do. And their numbers are shrinking, too.”
Another factor is that low-wage jobs are good for the economy, if not for the people who earn them. The reason is that companies will invest and hire more workers. The goods they make are less expensive. That leads to more exports.
The important thing is that companies make more profit if they pay their workers less.
The auto industry is still the biggest manufacturing sector. The assembly line jobs pay well. However, most of the jobs are in the making of car parts. The median wages for parts workers fell from $18.35 in 2003 to $15.83 an hour in 2013.
More and more part-time workers are being employed. They work for temporary worker companies. On an hourly basis, they are paid less and receive few, if any, benefits.
Low-paying and part-time work is the new norm. Will consumers have enough money to drive the economy?
Source: The New York Times November 20, 2014
Send comments to: firstname.lastname@example.org


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Chad Sanderson joined us for Skyscanner’s Experimentation Day to host a session on Experimentation vs Optimisation.
When it comes to air travel, customers in 2019 have more choice than ever before. As they increasingly seek better ways to find and book exactly what they need – quickly and efficiently – it pays for airlines and travel brands to get this right.
Faical Allou is a former Skyscanner employee with more than 10 years’ experience in the airline industry. In this exclusive interview, he explains how this experience led to his first book, A Lifelong Flight, and why a frictionless experience for travellers is indeed the way forward in 2019.
His novel follows Sam, a professor in business strategy who finds himself on a mission to rescue a start-up airline in Bali while navigating an industry that is completely unknown to him.
Skyscanner has joined NDC Exchange, a platform that enables content interoperability across the airline distribution ecosystem and is a trusted bridge between the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) New Distribution Capability (NDC) and traditional distribution methods.


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Unity has updated its social app to let you share photos and video with your friends, a feature that many have complained has been left out of the latest update.
The software maker has been quietly rolling out a number of new features to its software over the last few months, including a new avatar for users that allows users to add and share their photos and videos to the app.
Users will be able to share photos or videos in the game by going to Settings > Add New > Camera, and then choosing the avatar you want to share.
The new feature allows users in-game to send a friend a photo or video they’ve captured and upload it to the Unity’s social app, which will show up in the user’s profile picture.
When a friend uploads a photo from their camera, the image will appear on the friend’s profile page in the app, and they can see it when they log in to the game.
Users can also post their photos to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, as well as share them with friends through the game’s own camera app.
The update also introduces a new feature to the camera app called “Profile Photo”, which allows users who want to see their friends’ pictures in-engine to do so.
Users can then go to Settings >> Show Profile, and choose “Show photos from friends”.
The new camera feature lets users send photos from their phone to their friends without the need to open the app or wait for the app to load.
Users also get to see the photos that other users have shared in-between games, and it will also show up on the friends profile.
Users don’t need to be a Unity member to share their photo in-world.
The Unity software has been in beta for a number months now, and some of the biggest changes include improved sharing options and a new photo-sharing option that lets users share photos with friends.
The social app has also received a number other improvements over the past few months including a slew of new social features, like new avatar options, improved game mode and a revamped camera app that includes a new camera app for in-house use.


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Royal Mail shares rise after interims
Friday, November 20, 2015
Royal Mail’s revenues from marketing mail grew by 3% in the first half of the year, boosted by an increase in DM spend and in its own data activities.
The group posted sales down 1.8% to £4.39bn in the six months to 27 September, while a big jump in restructuring costs resulted in operating profits that were down 17.6% to £248m. Pre-tax profits fell 30% to £116m.
The bill for ‘transformation costs’ doubled year-on-year to £94m, in part because of higher voluntary redundancy costs. Almost 3,000 workers left its UK Parcels, International and Letters (UKPIL) business, most taking voluntary redundancy.
Royal Mail said it had reduced costs by some £200m in the last three years, and had more than 70 projects underway “targeted to avoid around £500m of annualised costs by 2017-18”.
Its share price jumped by 21.9p, or 4.82%, to 476p after the results announcement.
Sales in the UKPIL business were down 1% to £3.65bn, with flat operating margins of 7.8% prior to restructuring costs.
Addressed letter volumes fell by 4%, which was at the lower end of Royal Mail’s expectations. Marketing mail grew by 3%, and parcel volumes were up 4%. It said more than 1.5bn letters have now been sent using Mailmark, which provides users with web-based reporting and analytics.
However, unaddressed door-to-door letter drops were affected by “a reduction in marketing spend in certain sectors”.
Regarding the Ofcom review of the regulation of Royal Mail that is currently underway, it said it had submitted its response in September, and stated: “To sustain the Universal Service the regulatory environment must allow us to be innovative and competitive.”
Royal Mail also stated that it had not made any provision for potential penalties in relation to the complaint to Ofcom by TNT Post UK (now Whistl) about Royal Mail’s access pricing. “We continue to maintain that we have not infringed competition law and our representations to Ofcom will be on that basis,” it said.
In its parcels business Royal Mail is targeting growth with services aimed at retailers and etailers, and has signed up new contracts with several big names, including John Lewis, Waterstones, ASOS and House of Fraser.
It is poised to install its first automated parcel sortation machine in Swindon next month, and is trialling doorstep collections for SMEs and marketplace sellers in the North West who sell via sites such as eBay.
Royal Mail is also pushing the use of 2D barcodes for parcel tracking. “We are working with our customers to put 2D barcodes on as many parcels as possible,” it said.
It plans to grow its business in the fast-growing market for same day deliveries, and agreed to acquire £19m turnover eCourier earlier this week. The firm specialises in same day deliveries in the Greater London area. “The combination of eCourier and Royal Mail Sameday will create a significant player in the national same day delivery market,” it said.
However, although that market is growing at 4-5% per annum, Royal Mail also warned that stiff competition in the parcels market, where Amazon has rolled out its own delivery network, meant overall parcels growth was likely to be limited to 1-2% in the short-term.
At its General Logistics Systems (GLS) parcel delivery wing on the continent, sales grew 8% to £741bn and volumes by 9% to 204m. Operating margins were down from 7.3% to 7%, largely due to changes in the minimum wage legislation in Germany, its biggest market.
Losses were trimmed from €9m to €8m in France, but Royal Mail admitted that the next phase of its turnaround programme there would be “more challenging”.
GLS also made a £31m profit on the disposal of German subsidiary DPD Systemlogistik earlier this year.
Chief executive Moya Greene reiterated that the performance for the full year would be driven by the upcoming festive season. “As in previous years, the full year outcome will be dependent on our important Christmas period, for which we have extensive preparations in place,” she said.
It will take on 19,000 temporary workers to handle the Christmas rush, and will open 10 parcel sorting centres for the period.


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Skip the blender. Forget the shaker. The method for many of today’s mixed cocktails is pour and enjoy.
“It’s ready to go,” Todd Wiggs, beer and wine director at Jungle Jim’s International Market, Fairfield, Ohio, says of the premixed cocktail.
Flavored malt beverages and wine products — sold in single-serve, 10-ounce pouches that can be chilled or frozen to create a pina colada or other cocktail — played a starring role in Jungle Jim’s Cincinnati store over the summer.
A 4-foot section for the pouch drinks was quickly expanded to 18 feet after a variety of new players entered the market. Featured brands included Daily’s, Parrot Bay, Mike’s, Seagram’s Escapes, Arbor Mist and T.G.I. Fridays.
The category appeals to a largely female demographic looking for sweet, easy-to-prepare alcoholic drinks.
Though pouch cocktails typically sell for about $1.99 each, Jungle Jim’s was able to promote them at 10 for $10 for several weeks.
Shoppers could pick and choose a variety of different beverages, ranging from mojitos and cosmos to pina coladas and margaritas.
“The pouches cater to those who want to enjoy a restaurant-style cocktail at home,” Wiggs said.
While the category is at its height in the summer, new flavors like hard cider and spiced sangria could help it get year-round attention, Wiggs said.
Niemann Foods, Quincy, Ill., also has had success with the pouches, according to category manager Marty Miller.
“The pouches have been a nice addition, providing smaller sizes, lower retails and convenience to the customer,” said Miller.
At a recent trade show, Niemann saw pouches of vodka and rum that are headed to market soon. Niemann is discussing the items internally to determine if it will buy the vodka pouches. But the company is concerned about shrink.
“We feel the pouches of liquor could be difficult to merchandise due to easy theft with them since they are small,” Miller noted.
Niemann’s top three wine/malt beverage pouch brands are Daily’s, Parrot Bay and Cordina. Several “light” pouches also have been well received.
Introduced in 2005, the Daily’s line has expanded from margaritas and daiquiris to 13 flavors, including tropical. It also has several “light” flavors that contain 180 calories per 10-ounce pouch, down from the regular 280 calories.
“Our consumers told us they want new things, and light products are one of the things they want,” said Molly Boras, senior director of cocktail marketing at American Beverage Corp., Verona, Pa., marketer of Daily’s.
The company caters to those who want a quick and easy way to enjoy a cocktail at home or on the go, said Boras.
“All they need to do is take a pouch out of the freezer for a great-tasting prepared frozen cocktail without any work,” she said.
Because they are sold individually, pouches provide good impulse sales, said Boras. American Beverage Corp. offers countertop and front-end displays to attract consumers waiting in line.
Read more: Wine Has a Rosé Outlook
Innovation has been a huge driver in the business. Even brewer Anheuser-Busch entered the market with its Bud Light Lime-A-Rita, a flavored malt beverage sold in a can that blends its Bud Light Lime with a margarita flavor. The company expanded the line with the launch of Bud Light Lime Straw-Ber-Rita, a combination of Bud Light Lime with the taste of a strawberry margarita.
Unique higher-end premixed cocktails are capturing retail attention. Take Absolut Tune, a sparkling beverage made with vodka and New Zealand sauvignon blanc. It is packaged in a Champagne-like bottle.
There’s also Sauza ready-to-serve sparkling margarita made with real tequila, and available in such flavors as original, lime, mango peach and wild berry.
Prepared cocktails generated $176.1 million in dollar sales in food stores for the 52 weeks ending Aug. 11, an 8% drop from the same period the previous year, according to IRI.
One reason for the decline in the food channel could be growing distribution in other channels — mainly convenience, said Richard Hurst, IRI’s beer, wine and spirits new practice leader.
Since many premade cocktails are malt-based, they typically get distribution anywhere beer is sold. This lends itself to convenience stores.
Some brands are even initially launched exclusively in convenience. Take Clubtails, cocktails like the Screwdriver and Long Island Iced Tea in a can.
“Don’t waste time gathering ingredients and concocting a mediocre drink when we have blended the perfect cocktail for all consumers to enjoy,” Clubtails promotional materials read.
There’s also BuzzBallz, mixed drinks made with juice, vodka, gin, rum or tequila. They are sold in ball-shaped containers.
“Products like these may be causing some of the (premixed cocktail sales) decline in food,” Hurst said.
While new products continue to launch, it’s unclear if the segment will have longevity, Hurst said.
“The question is whether or not this is a sustainable proposition, or a fad that may come and go,” he said.
While innovation is a good thing, a flood of similar products won’t contribute to overall category growth, said Hurst.
“If innovation becomes just a proliferation of similar-looking products, and real brands don’t emerge from it, it won’t be sustainable,” he said.
Another category challenge is that some products, especially pouches designed to be frozen, are seasonal, selling mostly in summer.
“Pouches are limited in their usage,” he said.
At the same time, Millennials are gravitating toward creating their own drinks, so they may prefer to buy vodka, gin or other liquor individually and create their own concoctions. “Millennials like to buy mixes and make a drink on their own,” he said.
If the segment loses Millennial support, sales will be adversely affected, added Hurst. “If you don’t get the young consumer behind you, there’s a danger that will this will fizzle out,” he said. Another reason for the sales decline in food is that consumers may be turned off by the premium pricing of many premade cocktails sold in bottles, said Tom Pirko, president of Bevmark Consulting, Beullton, Calif.
Read more: Hard Core: All the Buzz About Hard Ciders
“Consumers may be gravitating to products that offer a better value,” he said.
The many new product introductions haven’t helped matters. “The market became so saturated — and consumers take time to adapt to it,” Pirko said.
Consumers may feel overwhelmed when they see dozens of brands, flavor combinations and ingredients on the labels.
“Consumers may look at the label, and not understand what the product is all about, so they buy something else,” he said.
Top Premixed Cocktail Brands
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By Gemma Greenwood
US company inks deals with related service providers in Egypt and Morocco.
US car rental company Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group (DTAG) has announced plans to partner with Egypt's Abou Ghali Group and Morocco's Majestic Limousines in a bid to expand its presence in the MENA region.
It is hoped the partnership with Abou Ghali Group, which currently offers a wide array of services including short-term car rental, chauffeur and long-term leasing, will enhance DTAG's status as "one of the leading car rental organisations in the MENA region" by offering a greater portfolio or products to its clients.
"Egypt is a key market for DTAG given the growth of its tourism and commercial sectors, as well as its large population" said Sam Eltibi, regional director, Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, MENA, speaking at the group's annual meeting held recently in Egypt, where a series of business sessions reinforced the relationship between Dollar Thrifty and its Middle East franchisees.
Meanwhile, the company's deal with Morocco's Majestic Limousines is aimed at catering to inbound business and leisure travellers, as well as to the local population in Morocco's most prestigious cities.
"Already a well-established name in the automotive industry in Morocco, Majestic Limousine's understanding of the local market and its reputation are certain to stand us in good position as we venture into this new, untapped market," explained Eltibi.
DTAG has also announced plans to expand in Oman where it will open at least three new outlets by April 2008.


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WATCH ABOVE: Apple revealed Monday it will be launching Apple Music, its streaming music service that will compete directly with Spotify and other services.
TORONTO – How much are Canadians willing to pay to stream music?
It’s a question that continues to flummox analysts, record labels and particularly online streaming services.
As one component of its extensive Canadian Nielsen Music 360 report, Nielsen Entertainment polled consumers on how much they’d be willing to spend monthly for unlimited streaming of songs and albums without advertising.
The respondents, on average, said they would be willing to devote $6.20 per month or up to $7.80 for high quality audio. But, of course, they were speaking on a hypothetical basis.
Those numbers lie in the middle of the range of options offered by streaming services in Canada.
Currently, Spotify offers a limited free service in addition to a $9.99 per month premium version, which offers ad-free on-demand listening. Newcomer Tidal provides subscriptions for either $9.99 or $19.99 per month. Rdio, meanwhile, recently introduced a new $3.99 subscription tier called Rdio Select, joining its free ad-supported streaming radio service and its $9.99 ad-free on-demand service.
The new plan allows subscribers to download 25 songs and replace them once per day, as well as offering unlimited song skips and high-quality sound.
“This is the coach class version, if we were an airline – and up till now, the only seats available on airlines were business class,” said Rdio CEO Anthony Bay in a recent telephone interview.
Bay said the new tier – less than the cost of a latte, he touts – was essential in part because the average listener spends only around $45 on music annually.
“Although it’s a tremendous value, the challenge with the $9.99 (monthly) price point is it’s more than most people have historically spent on music,” he said.
“We think the big opportunity is reaching out to people who have never been interested in subscribing,” he added. “For those people, $20 per month is a big jump – even $10 for a lot of people is a big jump.
“We’re very focused on the broad consumer market.”
According to Nielsen’s research, that market is growing quickly.
READ MORE: A look at media streaming devices
In Canada, streaming volume is up 94 per cent since Nielsen began tracking streaming in July 2014.
The number of Canadians who reported streaming music in the past year grew to 71 per cent. And streamers skewed young; teens spent twice as much time streaming music as the general Canadian population.
Nielsen’s study was derived from an online poll of 3,500 consumers aged 13 and up from April 12 to 27.
Representatives for Tidal and Spotify declined requests for comment.


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Among other things, AMD’s Catalyst Omega driver announcement has given us an update of sorts on the status of FreeSync. AMD told us in August that the first FreeSync panels would be out in early 2015, and the company looks set to keep that schedule.
FreeSync displays have entered the mass production and validation stage, AMD tells us. The first commercial offerings are now scheduled for a launch in the January-February time frame. We’ll still have to wait until March for Samsung’s FreeSync-enabled UHD monitors, though.
AMD says that, from the point of view of display makers, there’s “not much you need to do” to support FreeSync other than comply with the DisplayPort 1.2a standard’s Adaptive-Sync specification. Nonetheless, the chipmaker mentioned some “secret sauce” that we’ll learn more about in January or February. Hmm.
I’m guessing we’ll have at least some fresh details early next month, since AMD and its partners plan to have FreeSync monitors on display at CES. Scott will be at the show, so stay tuned.


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2019 CMEF in Shangdong
At the China International Medical Equipment Fair (CMEF) held in the fall of 2019, MT Medical showcased its latest medical products and services.
As a company specializing in the manufacturing and R&D of medical devices, MT Medical exhibited a series of innovative medical device products at this exhibition, including household medical devices, medical equipment and medical consumables. These products not only feature advanced technology and design, but also comply with strict medical standards and regulatory requirements, and can provide patients with safer and more effective medical services.
Participating in this CMEF exhibition not only showcases MT Medical's products and technical strength, but also provides an important platform for the company to communicate and cooperate with customers and partners. MT Medical will continue to be committed to innovation and research and development to provide patients with better medical products and services.
GET IN TOUCH WITH US


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Aksys Games has been chosen as a publisher for Rising Star Games and they will distribute their 2012 line-up. The first game, Akai Katana, will be exclusive to the Xbox 360 and it is a side-scrolling bullet hell shooter.
“We are happy and proud to become an important role in introducing Rising Star Games’ video games to the U.S. market. We believe Rising Star Games’ can effectively launch and expand their business in the North American territory by utilizing our in- house sales and logistic resources,” said Founder and CEO of AKSYS Games, Akibo Shiekh.
At the same time, we are very confident that our combined efforts will create a synergy and increase brand awareness for both Rising Star Games’ and AKSYS Games.”
“I am excited to finally bring Rising Star Games compelling video games to the USA. We have, in line with our approach to publishing in Europe these past years, decided to come to the market by partnering with experts in their field. Aksys Games offer an expertise and know-how that will define our success across 2012,” said Martin Defries, President, Rising Star Games.
Tell us what you think in the comments section below.


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Subaru calls back in nearly 200,000 Imprezas, WRXs, STIs and Foresters in salt-belt states to remedy an issue it's tried to fix before with anti-corrosion wax applied to the brake lines.
The arrival of a new car in your garage is a lot like returning home from your honeymoon. For the first month, you wash the car every other day to show off its hot body. A couple months go by and you're still washing it every weekend. After six months, you find the time for a wipe down once a month. After a year, though, you're happy when it rains and washes the salt off.
BMW is working on a new type of paint that will effectively make those weekend wash and wax chores obsolete. The technology was first introduced on the BMW M Coupe concept at last year's Frankfurt's show. Don't expect the technology to be available any time soon, though. Says Timo Gobel, project manager for the coupe, "It is a big technical challenge. There are many changes necessary, from the factory paintshop to caring for the finish. We have no idea yet on how we will be able to repair it." C


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SOUTHERN AUTO CORRIDOR
VW's new Chattanooga facility will be the 11th auto assembly plant built or announced in the Southeast in the last 2 1/2 decades.
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - As the nation's economy slowly regains traction, the South's auto manufacturing role continues to expand with new plants such as Volkswagen's Chattanooga project and added work at existing factories, industry officials say.
"The whole automotive industry in Alabama has grown tremendously the last 15 to 16 years. We'd like to think we've had a hand in that," said Jason Hoff of Mercedes-Benz U.S. International in Vance, Ala.
Mr. Hoff, speaking at the Southern Automotive Conference last week, cited plans for the factory to launch assembly of a new M-Class hybrid, for example.
Executives with other auto manufacturers that have large investments in the South also discussed expansions and new products.
Susan Brennan, vice president of manufacturing for Nissan North America, said the Japanese automaker next year will start producing its electric car at the Smyrna, Tenn., plant.
Nissan plans to invest $4 billion to revamp the 26-year-old factory for the production of the zero-emissions cars.
The carmaker will build both the Nissan Leaf and its batteries at the facility, though it is not adding more space for production of the vehicle itself, she said.
"We're not building a separate line," Ms. Brennan said, adding that Nissan will use its existing supply base for the new car.
Mark Brazeal, assistant general manager of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama in Huntsville, said that by 2011 the factory will build four-, six- and eight-cylinder engines.
The company is making a $147 million investment and will create 240 new jobs to support the market for vehicles with four-cylinder engines, he said.
The factory will make four-cylinder power plants for the RAV4 and Camry, Mr. Brazeal said.
Mike Lapham, Honda Manufacturing of Alabama's purchasing division manager, said Ridgeline truck production recently was moved to the Lincoln, Ala., plant from Canada. In addition, Accord V-6 production was shifted to the Alabama facility, he said.
The company has "exercised the flexibility" of the plant, Mr. Lapham said.
Ashley Frye, director of production for Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama, said the South Korean automaker and sister company Kia have expanded sales during the economic slump.
"We're on track to sell 3 million cars this year," he said.
Kia last month started production at a new plant in West Point, Ga. Kia workers are producing the Sorento sport utility vehicle at the $1.2 billion, 3 million-square-foot plant.
The facility has capacity to assemble 300,000 vehicles a year.
VW's new plant in Chattanooga, meanwhile, will be the only new auto assembly factory to open in the United States in 2011. A University of Tennessee study has estimated the German carmaker's new $1 billion, 2 million-square-foot plant will create more than 11,000 direct and indirect jobs.
While the auto industry in the South is moving forward, American automakers such as General Motors, Chrysler and Ford are shrinking and closing plants, many of which are in the Midwest.
Bill Hampton, publisher of industry newsletter AutoBeat, urged caution in writing off the Midwest just yet.
Recent changes in the cost structures of the American car companies have closed the gap that has made the South the place for building new plants for the last two decades, he said.
"The shift of production from the Midwest won't reverse," Mr. Hampton said, adding that he doesn't know if it will continue much further.
He said the GM and Chrysler bankruptcies and accompanying less-costly labor expenses may stop a lot of the migration out of the Midwest.
Also, the representatives of the automakers with plants in the South said they had been hit by the sharp drop in car sales.
Mr. Hoff of Mercedes said the company has had to cut the work force at its Vance plant and is planning a second round of trimming.
"We're hit like everyone else," he said, noting production has been down 50 percent at times. "It has presented tremendous demands on our supply chain."


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Manchester's newest Indian restaurant opened at the Corn Exchange last month - and it's already had a visit from one of the country's top critics.
Delhi House Cafe earned warm words from The Observer's respected Jay Rayner in his latest restaurant review.
Rayner said the site felt like 'a mature business well into its stride' despite it having only been open eight days when he visited.
"It also boasts some of the best trained, and most cheery staff I have come across in a long while," he wrote.
He found 'a lot to enjoy' about the food, too - with particular praise for the 'ripely sauced, butter-rich' chicken ghee roast and the tandoori lamb chops - 'a glorious, spice-crusted exercise in bone nibblage'.
Rayner also enjoyed the dahi poori, a Goan prawn curry and 'reassuringly well-executed' parathas, naans and rice.
He was less impressed with the Amritsari fish fry and the JFC fried chicken, and their lack of spicing.
"Both come with those chips that look like they might have been found in the freezer cabinet," he wrote.
"Both dishes have a place on the menu. They are child friendly. I’m just sorry I ordered them."
Desserts were more successful, including a gajjar halwa, rabri and Nutella tart and a mysore pak cheesecake.
"It’s a welcome addition to the less than impressive offering at the Corn Exchange," he concluded.
You can read his full review here.
Previously home to The Triangle shopping centre, the grade II-listed Corn Exchange was revamped and reopened as a casual dining development in 2015.
It's home to restaurants and bars including Salvi's, Mowgli, Pho, Tampopo, The Cosy Club, Banyan Bar and Kitchen, Gino D'Acampo - My Restaurant, Vapiano, Pizza Express and Zizzi, as well as the Roomzzz Aparthotel and the Escape Hunt escape room.
Situated in a unit overlooking Cathedral Gardens, Delhi House Café replaces Brazilian barbecue restaurant Cabana, which shut last year after the chain went into administration.
Speaking when it launched last month, Delhi House Café managing director Sherry Lamba said: “Opening a restaurant during and after a global pandemic is no mean feat and we’re proud of our team for working so diligently to ensure the site can open in time with an amazing menu and setting in place.
"We have stayed strong and stand strong with the city.
“Our family’s Indian identity, roots and heritage is at the heart of our menu and every dish tells a story inspired by a different part of the country.
“We can’t wait to welcome guests to our restaurant and for them to be to sample our great, authentic food.”


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Olympic gymnast Nastia Liukin is shouting out her favorite vacation destination of Hawaii in skimpy bikini bottoms, and she’s getting the thumbs-up for the photo. The 31-year-old former athlete, a known travel-lover, is based in Dallas, TX, but it was exotic island vibes in a recent Instagram share as the 2008 all-around champion honored her top-rated holiday spot.
Posting for her 1.1 million Instagram followers, Nastia sent out her Gold Medal body in a super-cute swim look – check it out below.
Nastia Liukin All Bikini With Hawaii Love
Scroll for the photo. Nastia has made travel headlines throughout the pandemic – first came multiple trips to her scenic Montana cabin, with more recent travels, of course, including Tokyo where Nastia was a prominent commentary and hosting face during the 2020 Olympics.
Snapped back to the camera and on a balcony overlooking greenery, the Pottery Barn partner stunned fans with her super-fit body, seen in red-and-white bikini bottoms with cute polka dots, plus a ribbed white crop top. The year-round tan was on show, with Liukin seen swishing her blonde hair around for a glam and very Intsagrammable finish.
“Hi hawaii, I miss you, that’s all,” the gymnast wrote. Quick to leave a like was 24-year-old gymnastics superstar Simone Biles, who follows Nastia’s Instagram and this year made headlines for calling her blue Tokyo outfit a “Tinkerbell one.”
See The Photo Below
Fans gushed over the snap, leaving Nastia heart and fire emoji, but it isn’t always easy-going when it comes to the blonde’s followers. In October 2020, they dragged the gymnast through a high-profile anorexia storm, one seeing Nastia fire back.
Turns out, Nastia comes with helpful travel tips, ones she opened up about when Black Tomato interviewed her about a China trip years after she won her Golds at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Revealing her must-have carry-on items, the gymnast dished:
“Definitely my makeup and my skincare products – everything that is travel sized obviously and one change of clothes in case your bags get lost and a blanket. I always travel with my own blanket. It’s just a sense of comfort and home – LA to NYC, cross country, and any flights outside of the country I always have it.”
Nastia’s 2021 headlines have also included her new sell-out APL sneaker collab, high-profile partnership with home retailer Pottery Barn and the news that she’s expanding her skincare range with Volition – there’s a new face mask added onto the gymnast’s $55 Celery Green Cream.


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With the League of Legends World Championships commencing, Riot has revealed the official merchandise for the event.
The Riot Games merch store is now filled with Worlds-themed items and garments for every League fan.
The currently featured item in the online store is the Elder Dragon XL figurine. The cute, yet ferocious creature stands at 5.1-inches and is the 13th figure of the Series 3 collection. Fans can purchase the limited-edition figurine for US$ 30.
As for clothing, Riot has released a Worlds Match Day hoodie. The sleek jacket is mostly black, sporting white and orange accents. The front and back show off two different Worlds crests, with the back crest featuring the venues for the championship. You can purchase the zip-up hoodie for US$65.
Other notable items include a Worlds Tibber plush toy (US$35) and city-themed track jackets (US$95).
Fans will also have the opportunity to purchase a miniature Summoner’s Cup figurine (US$15) and obtain a complimentary Elder Dragon in-game icon if they purchase before November 10.
The League of Legends World Championship is currently in its play-in stage and will have its finals on November 10.


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Mr. Buttigieg dismissed the president's "name-calling", telling reporters in California that Mr. Trump's comments made him think "of a Chinese proverb that goes, 'When the wind changes, some people build walls and some people build windmills, '" Mr. Buttigieg said. Subscribe via Pocket Cast or iTunes.
Macy's CEO Jeff Gennette also sounded a similar alarm, saying another round of tariffs would nearly certainly hit consumers in their pocketbooks. These trade negotiations are serious for us.
In a sign of how national security and economic concerns are intertwined, the USA last week blacklisted the Chinese telecom giant Huawei, making it hard for United States firms to do business with the company. "They must know that Japan fell into the lost decade partly because the Bank of Japan overstimulated the Japanese economy after the Plaza Accord". China's yuan faced its worst daily fall in last 9 Months as the trade conciliations amid the U.S. and China concluded after the U.S. President Donald Trump surged tariffs on Chinese goods.
But he said he had told Chinese President Xi Jinping before the most recent rounds of talks that any deal could not be "50-50" between the two countries and had to be more in favour of the United States because of past trade practices by China. The Chinese government responded by announcing higher tariffs on $US60 billion worth of USA goods.
"If the U.S. doesn't make concessions in key issues, there is little point for China to resume talks", said Mr Zhou Xiaoming, a former commerce ministry official and diplomat. The metals tariffs were an irritant, not just in Canada and Mexico but in the US, where key members of Congress complained that they were raising costs for USA manufacturers that use the metals. Raising the rate to 25% on $200 billion in Chinese exports would increase the impact to 0.9 ppt in the year ahead.More news: Bucs to release DT McCoy
More news: Portland stunned Denver; advanced to the Western Conference Finals
More news: Eagles DE Chris Long Officially Retires From NFL On Twitter
Because the USA imports more from China than it exports to that country, the US will have more imports from China on which it can keep imposing tariffs.
Shares in European chipmakers Infineon Technologies, AMS and STMicroelectronics fell sharply on Monday amid worries the Huawei suppliers may suspend shipments to the Chinese firm due to the USA blacklisting. "In the face of hurricanes, the almost 1.4 billion Chinese people have confidence and stamina". As debt climbs, that may reignite concerns over systemic financial risks. Farmers and ranchers will essentially become welfare recipients.
Americans may not like paying higher prices on imported products, but they are more likely to tolerate them if they perceive that American values are at stake, says Henry Olsen, senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. That threatens to accelerate the departure of manufacturers that already are reeling from rising labor and other costs. The chief, however, promised that the company will do everything it can to mitigate cost increases. "A lower trend growth in investment, coupled with more restricted access to foreign know-how, would mean permanent damage to long-term productivity growth".
On Friday, China's government said that it will work to counteract the effects of more USA tariffs and keep the economy in a "reasonable range". That would strangle the Chinese economy, she says.
"It seems as if the US takes it for granted that it has the absolute say over everything in its dealings with the rest of the world, which has to take whatever the USA dishes out no matter how arbitrary and despotic that is", China Daily said.
Cars for export and import are stored in front of containers on Thursday, May 16, 2019 at the harbor in Bremerhaven, Germany, with 2 million vehicles per annum one of the largest automobile hubs in the world.


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ALPHARETTA, GA — Got any old documents or electronics you want to get rid of? If so, you may want to head over to the Alpharetta Department of Public Works this weekend.
That's because the city is hosting aand event on Saturday at the facility.
Alpharetta residents and businesses will have the opportunity to safely discard confidential documents using a mobile, on-site shredding truck from 8:30 a.m. to noon on Saturday, April 9. The location will be at the Alpharetta Department of Public Works, 1790 Hembree Road.
"Residents can have comfort knowing that the shredded materials will be recycled into new paper without risk of their confidential information falling into the wrong hands," the city posted to Facebook.
For documents, there is a five-box limit per household, the city said.
Participants are asked to wear a face mask and remain in their vehicle while items are unloaded from the car.
North Fulton businesses and residents will also be able to recycle computers and other electronic equipment at the same time.
The city has teamed up with "Atlanta Recycling Solutions" to accomplish the collection. The event is designed to give residents and businesses the opportunity to properly recycle and dispose electronic waste.
Atlanta Recycling Solutions recycles everything it accepts and materials are never sent to be processed in developing nations – everything is done here in North America!
See the attached list of acceptable items free of charge.
Please note that there will be a cash charge for:
- Acceptable televisions: $30.00 each
- CRT Devices: $15.00 each
- Projection TV's: $50.00 each
- No console units, or TV tubes are accepted. Please note that Atlanta Recycling Solutions is only able to accept cash for these items.
The following items will not be accepted:
- Console TV's
- TV tubes
- Small appliances
- Microwave ovens
- Humidifiers and dehumidifiers
- Power equipment
- Vacuum cleaners
To view the electronics that will be accepted for recycling, click here.


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Brand owners should not miss out on the great opportunities presented by the new gTLD programme, says Stuart Fuller.
It has been nearly 15 months since ICANN announced the applicants for its new generic top-level domain (gTLD) programme to a waiting world of interested parties. While some brand owners had an idea of the opportunities and threats this radical change to the Internet would bring, the vast majority of business owners and Internet users had no idea what to expect.
Today, we are all still waiting for the revolution of the Internet we have been talking about since ICANN announced that the Internet name-space would change more than three years ago. The dawn of the new Internet age is still very dark.
However, the latest signs from ICANN are that it is almost ready to start the engine on the programme. At its conference in Durban in mid-July, the critical path for the first gTLD to be released was outlined, mentioning a date of late August for the commencement of delegation into the root-zone of the Internet. While there still may be a lot of debate and anticipation as to who will be the first TLD applicant to be ready to launch, many doubters will not be convinced that the programme will ever see the light of day, based on previous legal and technical challenges we have seen while getting to this stage.
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The gold industry's trade group plans to launch the last of its series of gold exchange-traded funds on the world's major exchanges, with a fund opening in Dubai in the fourth quarter. "After Dubai, I would say there are no gaps" in availability of gold ETFs, World Gold Council CEO James Burton said. The ETFs are backed by physical gold, which increases demand for bullion. Investors gain exposure to gold prices without having to store and protect it.
Published in Brief:


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In his first sit-down interview since announcing plans to step down as Starbucks’ executive chairman, Howard Schultz said that he does not understand President Donald Trump’s trade battle with China and that the communist nation’s economic aggression is not a problem.
Among Howard Schultz's biggest worries right now: trade wars and high government debt. "We are in a trade battle here that I do not understand. Our problem is not China. Our problem is here in the US we have $21T in debt." to @andrewrsorkin
— Sara Eisen (@SaraEisen) June 5, 2018
Schultz told CNBC Squawk Box co-host Andrew Ross Sorkin Tuesday that he is baffled by the Trump administration’s trade policy towards China.
“Going back to China and trade… this rhetoric about all these trade wars that are now being engaged with China, with Mexico, with Canada… this might sound like a trite line, but it’s important. We should not be in the business of building walls, we should be in the business of building bridges,” Schultz said.
“We are in a trade battle here that I do not understand. Our problem is not China. Our problem is here in the US we have $21 trillion in debt.”
Schultz, the founder of Starbucks Coffee, will step down as the company’s executive chairman on June 26.
“I’ll be thinking about a range of options for myself, from philanthropy to public service, but I’m a long way from knowing what the future holds,” Schultz wrote in a memo sent to employees.
Just days before announcing his departure, Schultz — the subject of much speculation about running for the White House in 2020 — blamed President Trump for America’s “racial divide.”
U.S. officials are negotiating with China in an effort to cut the $370 billion trade imbalance between the two countries.
The third round of trade talks between the world’s two largest economies appeared to fall short of bridging the gap between Beijing and Washington, which are at loggerheads over Chinese trade and industrial policy practices that US President Donald Trump says kill American jobs.
The discussions in Beijing, led by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, were intended to ease tensions after Washington said Tuesday it would follow through with tariffs on Chinese imports despite a truce reached between the two sides last month.
The planned U.S. trade sanctions on Beijing include restrictions on Chinese investment, export controls and 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion in tech goods.
Agence France-Presse contributed to this report.


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The number of chief executives who are planning to make their presence felt at the Beijing Olympic Games is likely to rival the number at the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland that often attracts over 1,000 business leaders.
Lured by the increasing importance of the Chinese market and the opportunity to help Beijing in celebrating its biggest international event yet, the corporate honchos are heading to Beijing. No surprise, tickets for the Olympics opening ceremony are going for $50,000 in the gray market.
Indicating the interesting trend, a report in the Wall Street Journal mentions that in addition to thousands of athletes, over 80 heads of state and close to 30,000 members of the media, another group that is expected to invade Beijing in full force for the Olympics is corporate executives! The report quotes chief executive of advertising conglomerate WPP Group PLC Sir Martin Sorrell as saying: “You could call it a sporting Davos. It goes beyond just a wonderful sporting occasion. There are political and economic implications.”
In fact, many executives perceive the Olympics as a must event for firms that do business in China, or hope to. Bill Gates is set to attend, for example, as is Rick Wagoner, General Motors Corp. CEO. Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries, India’s largest business house is also said to be heading for Beijing. Few other leading industrialists are likely to follow suit.
Among prominent global CEOs expected to attend the Games are Blackstone Group LP’s Stephen Schwarzman; BP PLC’s Tony Hayward Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s H. Lee Scott Jr. and Terry Leahy, of Tesco PLC; Motorola Inc.’s Greg Brown; News Corp.’s Rupert Murdoch, and. Yahoo Inc. CEO Jerry Yang may also be there. Randall Stephenson, the AT&T Inc. CEO, plans meetings with customers, partners and employees in Beijing.
The top executives of dozens of Olympics sponsor firms, including Volkswagen AG’s Martin Winterkorn and McDonald’s Corp.’s Jim Skinner are also going to be there. Many of these firms will hold board meetings in Beijing. The Olympics is looking more like a corporate meet than a sporting spectacle!
Tags: low cost gifts, , Best corporate gifts, Best business gifts, Business etiquette, gifting to clients, corporate gifting for employees, Gifting occasions, corporate gifts companies, promotional gifts


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Third batch of 2019 shows revealed
21 March 2019
We’ve just revealed the biggest batch of 2019 shows in this year’s Fringe so far, with more than 200 new shows online now.
Even more to come
We'll be unveiling more shows on
- 18 April
- 16 May
- 05 June - Programme launch
Get your hands on the 2019 programme
There are a number of different ways you can get hold of this year’s programme, which will be available from Wednesday 05 June.
Become a Friend of the Fringe
Sign up to become a Friend and get a free copy delivered direct to your door in launch week in June.
As a Friend you also get a number of other benefits including 2for1 tickets from a selection of thousands of shows, an exclusive Box Office and booking line plus 10% off merch in the Fringe shop.
Pre-order a copy for delivery
Get a copy delivered in launch week by pre-ordering online. Your copy of the programme is completely free - just pay for postage and packaging to wherever you are in the world.
Pick one up after launch
The programme will be available to collect from a number of locations across the UK after launch on 05 June. Sign up for our email updates and we'll let you know when and where you can get one.
Find the perfect show for you
There are now more than 450 shows in total for you to explore. Make sure to check out the advanced search tool to filter what’s on by category, genre, date, time, age, suitability, accessibility and more.
Thumbnail picture: PssPss (2016). Photo: David Monteith-Hodge.


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It turns out that classic survival horror is still popular: Resident Evil HD, the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 remaster of Capcom's legendary GameCube remake, has sold more than one million copies worldwide. When you consider that the first version of the game is now nearly 20 years old, it's impressive that this title continues to enjoy such massive commercial success. Then again, it is still utterly brilliant.
"[The game's success] is in part because the dev team made a great product, but also because of the excellent word of mouth and general praise that fans shared about the title," a spokesperson wrote on Capcom's official blog. "We want to thank everyone for rediscovering this modern classic – or thank you for trying it for the first time."
To celebrate, Resident Evil: Revelations 2 will be getting a handful of new costumes as part of an update that's rolling out now. These include fresh threads for Gina – the ridiculous Lady Hunk and Rachel – as well as Mutant Pedro and Lottie. Those of you that have played the game will be aware of the latter – yes, it's a teddy bear. This time, however, it's wielding a submachine gun and a sword. You'll shoot your eye out, etc.


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MINSK, October 26 (Itar-Tass) - Belarussian Finance Minister Nikolai Korbut said the republic adheres to the accords with Russia on customs duties on Russian oil.
"As of now, each side collects duties on its own range of goods, in accordance with the effective national legislations," Korbut told Itar-Tass, in comments on the statement by the Russian president calling for restoring order in this sphere.
"Today, we have no legal document regulating the distribution of export customs duties," according to the minister.
"Russia gave its consent two weeks ago on settling the issue related to the distribution of duties," Korbut said. He agreed with the opinion that "it should be a separate agreement."
"Belarus is ready to discuss the issue," the finance minister said.
Russian president, Vladimir Putin, during a question and answer session on Wednesday, said in comments on economic relations with Belarus: "We are still unable to agree on general standards in the issues of customs dues both in imports and exports. It worries Russia."
"We look at the volume of our oil delivered to Belarussian refineries and then see the volume of exported petroleum products. Of course, we have to restore order in the process of normal dialogue with our Belarussian colleagues," Putin said.


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The business logic is transparent: it’s easier to sell in areas where population density is the highest so that your commercials affect the largest possible audience. There was a time when TV was the best media to reach potential buyers. Then the enemy of TV advertising was invented – remote control. TV channels started to multiply, ad-free commercial channels appeared, and the influence of TV advertising on people started to wane.
Advertisers started paying more attention to people in the streets, and large LED billboards (fearfully expensive at first) came very useful in brain-washing drivers bored by traffic jams and pedestrians waiting for their public transportation. LED billboards were first installed in the crowded squares, at busy crossroads, then on major highways. Ten years later the most attractive sites were exhausted, and LED structures started to get installed instead of traditional static billboards.
By now, large cities are already filled with LED billboards. For example, today there are more than 80 LED screens operated in Moscow, and more than 40 in the most unlikely city: St. Petersburg. This is not the limit, there will be more LED billboards, of course, but these numbers are fairly impressive considering the installation costs and some unforeseen expenses.
An installation of a new LED billboards in a big city is no longer news. However, a network of LED screens in a small city is a noticeable event. Few people outside of Russia would ever hear the names of the following cities: Dimitrovgrad, Murom and Serov, each boasting a population of about 100 thousand. However, even these small cities hurried to set up their own LED billboards networks. Consider another example: Vidnoje (Moscow Oblast) and Okha (Sakhalin Oblast) are not cities, they are settlements at best, but even these already own high-profile LED screen networks.
Dmitry Melchuk, a representative of a small regional advertising agency, says: “Naturally, our audience is much smaller than that in the big cities. But advertisers are more interested in brand recognition and brand memorizing. From this point of view, the LED billboards in small cities are much more noticeable than in large cities”.
We would hardly think of writing about LED billboards in small Russian cities if we did not start getting news about similar tendencies in other countries, including the USA. For example, recently an outdoor advertising company in the small city of Ardmore in Oklahoma decided to set up advertising digital billboards though the population of this place is only around 25 thousand people. The network is not large – only three LED billboards, but the agency believes that more billboards will follow.
The LED digital billboards in such remote and lonely place instantly turned into a sensation. Local businesses realized that advertising on LED billboards raises their status in this small community where everyone knows about everyone. As a result in the first 45 days of LED billboards network operation the utilization of billboards (the index of advertising time sold) amounted to more than 90 percent. You may appreciate that number by comparing it with the average utilization index in Moscow LED digital billboards: in peak season it never exceeds 56%.
Thus, we are justified in saying that a new tendency is being born: the outdoor digital advertising is well-entrenched in large cities, and currently started an advance towards smaller provincial cities.


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A few weeks ago, Sony ForwardWorks had created a teaser website for their upcoming game Arc the Lad R. That’s after having teased the game over a year and a half ago back at the tail end of 2016. Aside from the teaser site, we’ve heard nothing about the latest addition to the Arc the Lad series, until this week when we got two brand new trailers introducing the series and letting us know where we can find it. The game has no release date yet, but it’s clear we’re getting a mobile title for iOS and Android devices.
What little info we do have now, comprised from a few different resources, is that Arc the Lad R will be taking place a decade after the events from Arc the Lad II. We know that series director Toshiro Tsuchida, composer Masahiro Andoh, and scenario writer Norihiko Yonesaka have all signed on for this return to the series, which gives us comfort that it’s all in good hands. And we know the story will focus on a young boy named Haruto who is in a group named the Millmana who are attempting to reclaim what’s left of their destroyed planet. Enjoy the trailers.
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- Valiant/Sony Bloodshot Film Starring Vin Diesel Scheduled for February 21st, 2020
- Todd Howard Doesn't Want to Remaster Morrowind
- Sony is Recruiting Beta Testers for the PS4 6.0 System Software Update
- PlayStation's First Mobile Game, Everybody's Golf, Has Gone Live In Japan
- Brad Wong and Eliot Announced for Dead or Alive 6 Roster - December 13, 2018
- Ninja Will Live Commentate Thursday Night Football on Twitch - December 13, 2018
- SEGA Classics Launches on Amazon Fire TV Today - December 13, 2018
- Scopley and WBIE Launch Looney Tunes: World of Mayhem - December 13, 2018
- Chinese Ethics Board Orders Bans on Several Games Including PUBG and Fortnite - December 12, 2018


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Igeekphone December 25 news, today, digital blogger @digital chat station brought the latest news about vivo X100 Pro+ models, saying that vivo X100 Pro+ will be the first 200 million pixel periscope head, supporting 200 times digital zoom.
According to the blogger, the vivo X100 Pro+ will be equipped with a 200-megapixel periscope head, 1/1.5″± in size, and 4.3X 100mm optical zoom in current engineering applications.
Finally, it can present 10x optical quality zoom and 200x digital zoom; In addition, vivo X100 Pro+ will also be equipped with a portrait midfocus of the fusion focus segment, and the effect is also very good.
According to previous revelations, vivo X100 Pro+ is tentatively scheduled to be released in April next year, to create an “all-powerful flagship”, using a new 2K screen, Snapdragon 8 Gen3 processor, ultrasonic fingerprint, new image module, and the main and secondary cameras are fully upgraded.
In addition, the aircraft has also begun to test satellite communication, but it is the latest test among all mobile phone manufacturers, and will be equipped with purple light Zhanrui V8821 satellite communication SoC chip.
This is the first satellite chip in China to integrate baseband, radio frequency, power management, storage and other common functions of communication equipment.
vivo X100 Pro+ will also have a built-in 5400mAh battery that supports 120W fast charge and 50W wireless fast charge.
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